Advanced search

Baba Vanga, born Vangeliya Pandeva Dimitrova, in Strumica, North Macedonia, then the Ottoman Empire, in 1911, was a mystic, clairvoyant, and herbalist. Vanga lost her sight when she was 12. She was swept away by a mighty tornado. Later she was found alive, covered with dirt and stones, with sand in her eyes. She became blind as a result. In 1925 Vanga was brought to a school for the blind in the city of Zemun, in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, where she spent three years, and was taught to read Braille, and to play the piano. In 1927 she started making minor predictions about local phenomena. Her powers of foreseeing, clairvoyance, deepened and expanded after she turned 30. She attracted believers with her ability to heal and soothsay, fortune telling, a great number of people visited her, hoping to get a hint about whether their relatives were alive, or seeking for the place where they died. One of them was the Bulgarian Tzar Boris III. Another was Adolf Hitler. In 1942 Vanga married Dimitar Gushterov, a Bulgarian soldier, and moved to Petrich, Bulgaria, where she soon became well-known for her gifts and predictions. After the Second World War, Bulgarian politicians and leaders from different Soviet Republics, including Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev, sought her counsel. Several researchers have studied the phenomenon of Vanga in the attempt to establish whether she has any extraordinary capabilities. One of the first studies was initiated by the Bulgarian government and is described in the documentary "Fenomen" (1977). Fulfilling Baba Vanga's last will and testament, her house in Petrich was turned into a museum, which opened for visitors on May 5, 2008.

One of the most talented actors from Bulgaria. He was born in Sofia in 1942. In 1962 he graduated from famous Krastyo Sarafov National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts as an actor. His first appearance in the movies was in 1956 when he was a only a teenager. With the well known series Na vseki kilometar he gained international reputation.

Stoyanka Mutafova was born on February 2,1922 in Sofia . Her father , Constantine Mutafov was a playwright at the National Theatre "Ivan Vazov" . In 1941, she graduated from the First Sofia Girls' High School . Then she graduated from Classical Philology in Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" and the State Theatre School in Sofia. From 1946 to 1949, she worked in Theater in Prague , and from 1949 to 1956 at the National Theatre. She is a founding member of the State Theatre of Satire "Aleko Konstantinov" , where she worked from 1956 to 1991. Mutafova has 3 marriages. In 1946, she married her first husband, the Czech director Robert Rosner, when she was 23 years old, and he - 51. After marriage she went to live in Vienna , and then moved to Prague . In Prague Mutafova finishes second higher education at the theater department of the Prague Conservatory. Her second husband was Leonid Grubeshliev , by profession a journalist and translator. From this marriage is the only daughter of the actress - Maria Grubeshlieva - Muky. The third husband of Mutafova was the actor Neycho Popov. About him she says that he is the big love of her life. They have seen each other for the first time at the National Theatre, where she began to work as an actress, and he was a student at the National Academy. Stoyanka Mutafova is awarded with the order " St. St. Cyril and Methodius ", I grade in 1962; with the Honorary title "Honored Artist" in 1963; with the "National Order of Labour" , gold in 1972; with the Honorary title " People's Artist " in 1977; with the title Honorary citizen of Sofia in 2000; with the Order " Stara Planina " - 2002; with the title Honorary citizen of the town Burgas in 2002; with the Theater Award " Asker " in 2002; with the Sign " Golden Age " in 2012; with the title Honorary citizen of the town Sredets in 2012; With the Award "Golden Kukerikon" on the name of Georgi Kaloyanchev in 2013; with the Award "Golden blend" of "Jameson" for the role of grandmother Mariyka in the series " Capital citizen more" 2013; with the Award "Bulgaria You" in 2015; with the Citation for "Contribution to the culture and the enrichment of world theater" in 2015.

Petar Ivanov Popyordanov , known as Chocho Popyordanov, is Bulgarian theater and cinema actor. He was born on June 11, 1964 in Sofia, Bulgaria. He is a son of Ivan Popyordanov (born on 1938) - a longtime Chief of the cinema center Boyana Film Studios. He was also Chief of Bulgarian National Television in 1998. The Mother of Petar Popyordanov Katya was a doctor. The father's family originated from Veles, Vardar Macedonia. Chocho great-grandfather was a first cousin of the Macedonian revolutionaries - Chieftain Mile and his younger brother Jordan Popyordanov-Ortse, leader of Thessaloniki bombers. In 1989, Petar Popyordanov graduated National Academy for Theatre and Film Art, Sofia, Bulgaria in "Acting" in the class of Professor Krikor Azaryan and Todor Kolev. He studied at the Czech Republic one year. He has played in the troupes of Theatre "Sofia", Little City Theatre "Off the Channel" and in 1994 - in the National Theater. His most famous theater roles were in performances "Outcasts," "Midsummer Night's Dream," "At the foot of Vitosha Mountain," "The Tempest," "The man who makes the rain," "Kimono", "Decameron," "Ghosts in Naples, "" Hedda Gabler. " Chocho Popyordanov has involved in cinema productions, including "Yesterday" (1988), "Rio Adio" (1989), " The Love Summer of a Schlep " (1990), "Vampires, ghouls" (1992) "Canaries Season" (1993), "Frontier" (1994), "Spanish fly" (1998), "After the end of the world" (1998), "Danube bridge" (1999), "Sombrero blues" (1999), " Wolf Hunt" (2000). Petar Popyordanov has won numerous nominations and awards, including a nomination for "Asker" in 1996 and 1997 and the prize "Golden Bayar" in Belgium for Best Actor in the film "Border". He had also a presence on the small screen, starring in the TV show "UFO Club" on "Channel 1". In 2007 he began his participation in the series "Outcasts" for "Channel 1" of Bulgarian National Television. He has nephews Helen and Peter Koshnicharski. Albeit posthumously Chocho Popyordanov became a father of adopted him months earlier daughter Ekaterina Petrova Popyordanova. He died on May 5, 2013 in Boyana, Sofia Province, Bulgaria.

Bulgarian stage and film actor, singer and showman. He graduated from "Krastyo Sarafov National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts" as an actor, just as many talented actors from Bulgaria did. Began his career in 1965, Kolev was best known for his roles in comedies like "Opasen Char", "Gospodin Za Edin Den" and "Dvoynikat" as well as for his songs and shows. His unique kind of acting won general approval in his country. In some ways, pretty much reminds Charlie Chaplin.

After the collapse of communism, he get involved in politics for a while and was a Member of Parliament.

Todor Kolev suffered from Lung Cancer for several years and died at the age of 73.

Nevena, born in Dupnitsa on December 12, 1938, is keenly aware of the inequities of the world from a very young age. Her father Bogdan is a military officer in the Kingdom of Bulgaria. When the Communist-led Fatherland Front government takes power in the 40's, it consolidates its victory by persecuting the government and military elite of wartime Bulgaria as "enemies of the people". Her father spends several years in the labor camp. Even after his release, the stigma of being an "enemy's" daughter will haunt her throughout her life. With her family unable to live in Sofia, Nevena spends her childhood in the village of Kumarica, where she draws relentlessly and develops a passion for acting. After being fascinated by tales of a film shoot happening nearby, she is recruited as an extra and given a single line in the 1956 film "Two Victories". The experience is the final push that convinces the 18-year old Economics Institute graduate to audition for the National Institute for Theatrical Art in Sofia. In her audition, she gives a contemporary, unorthodox take on the study "woman sees a mouse in the room", which runs counter to the theatrical dogma of the time. That, possibly coupled with the stain on her father's name, contributes to her rejection. In her moment of discouragement, she received an offer for an apprentice position in the troupe of the country theatre. Nevena begins her stage career with classical ingénue roles, playing a bare-footed Juliet to great acclaim, fascinating critics with her unpolished, organic talent. She is cast in her first major screen role opposite Lyubomir Sharlandziev in the 1957 film "Years of Love". Lyubomir falls in love with her at first sight, and the 19-year old, inexperienced Nevena marries her first on-screen romantic partner. Her husband is not only an actor, he's a director. He directs Nevena in a multitude of plays, first in Gabrovo, then in Ruse, all the while acting as her unofficial acting tutor, constantly honing her skill. The screen adaptation of the novel "Tobacco" is a long and dramatic story. Author Dimitar Dimov is under tremendous pressure to rewrite portions of his work, to soften the impact of the characters within, while director Nikola Korabov has the uneasy task of reducing a 1500-page novel to a 150-page script. Kokanova has been in a few films already and Korabov hopes to have her play Irina, the female lead - a strong, independent, self-aware and ultimately self-destructive character. There is pressure from the Artistic Council of Cinematography to have another actress cast. Nevena is young, inexperienced, unschooled, provincial, and an undesirable to the Communist Party, which at the time exerts a tremendous amount of censorship and influence over anything produced in the country. There is even talk of bringing in a foreign actress to play Irina, but Dimov is against it. In the end, despite a tremendous amount of difficulty and at great risk to his career, Korabov secures Kokanova for the role. She has reservations herself, feeling unequal to the task of filling the shoes of the strong and experienced literary character that is Irina, but she is made for the screen and she becomes more confident with every shooting day that passes. "Tobacco" is presented at Cannes in 1963, with giants such as Federico Fellini, Alfred Hitchcock, Gregory Peck and Burt Lancaster in attendance. French poet Andre Morois kisses her hand on the red carper with the words "You affected me!" The criticism and envy leveled at her is quelled. The tremendous success of "Tobacco" makes her a household name in Bulgaria. Her second iconic film role will be anything but effortless. Vulo Radev, having been director of photography in several of her films, makes his directorial debut with a film version of Emilian Stanev's novel "The Peach-Garden Trespasser". Set just after WWI, the film is about a Serbian prisoner of war who sneaks into a Bulgarian colonel's private garden, meeting his wife there by chance and starting a torrid love affair with her. Nevena's beauty and her recent success fan the flames of envy and Radev has to put his reputation on the line and assume a tremendous financial risk to cast her. Moreover, she is in the middle of a theatrical engagement in the Satirical theatre in Sofia under director Metodi Andonov, at the same time that she is desperately needed to film "The Peach-Garden Trespasser" in Veliko Tarnovo. With Andonov's help, Kokanova manages to shoot for the film while still performing nightly in Sofia. Despite the tremendous risk of her being fired from the theatre, she is driven by car to Veliko Tarnovo (some 4 hours) after every performance in Sofia. She is filming until noon the following day, when she is driven back to be on stage again at 8 pm. Needless to say, this puts a tremendous physical strain on the young actress, who has very little time for sleep. By the end of the 60's, Kokanova is the most prolific Bulgarian film actress and a fashion icon. She's offered four roles in East Germany and accepts a terrific role in Italian director Liliana Cavani's "Galileo" in 1969. The next decade, spent on stage and on screen, is a happy one for Kokanova, resulting in some of her best work. She appears in films such as "The Boy Turns Man" (1972) opposite Filip Trifonov, "The Weddings of King Ioan Asen" (1975), the last film appearance of Apostol Karamitev and "Ladies' Choice") (1980), an ensemble comedy alongside Stefan Danailov, Tzvetana Maneva, Doroteya Toncheva and Maria Statulova. However, this decade ends with a crushing blow. In July of 1979, while directing "Three Deadly Sins", her husband Lyubomir dies of a heart attack. Devastated, she occupies herself with caring for their daughter Teodora and completes the film in his stead. In the stagnation and standstill that descends on the arts after the fall of Communism in 1989, and without any work prospects, she retreats to a village in the Balkan Mountains, rebuilding a small cottage and claiming sanctuary there. Kokanova continues to act, marking a belated 60th birthday in 1999 with a performance in the theatre "Revival". Days later, she is honored in the Hall of Cinema by a concert in her honor. Highlight reels of her great movie roles are shown and toasts are made to her health. Unbeknownst to everyone except her, these toasts are futile. She has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer several years earlier. By the end of 1999, she is a shadow of her former self, but ready to face her final challenge, her ultimate role, with grace and resolve. Nevena Kokanova, the radiant, lovely, loved, irreplaceable first lady of Bulgarian cinema, died on June 3, 2000 at the age of 62, immortalized on the silver screen and in the heart of a nation.

Binka Zhelyazkova was born on July 15, 1923 in the town of Svilengrad, Bulgaria. She studied theater at the National Theater Institute in Sofia. Her career as a film director began in 1957 when she co-directed her first feature film Life Goes Quietly By... with her husband Hristo Ganev.

At the end of the 1950s Binka Zhelyazkova was one of the few women in the world making feature films. Her style was influenced by Italian Neo-Realism and the French New Wave, as well as Russian Cinema.

During her career she directed seven feature and two documentary films. Four of her nine films were banned from distribution and reached audiences only after the end of communism. She was the director of the Bulgarian section of Women in Film, an organization created in 1989 after the international women in film conference, KIWI, in Tbilisi, Georgia. She stopped making films after 1989, which coincided with the fall of the communist regime in Bulgaria. For some time after that she remained active in the women in film organization but soon completely withdrew from public life.

Janine M. Clark was born on 23 November 1967 in Lynwood, California, USA. She was a production manager and producer, known for Dark Descent (2002), Daybreak (2000) and Antibody (2002). She died on 11 September 2001 in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Djoko Rosic (born Dzhordzhe Mirko Rosic) was born on 28 February 1932 in Krupanj, which was then part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, to a Bulgarian mother and a Serbian father. In 1951 he emigrated to Bulgaria and graduated in Economy, but completed also courses in Radio Journalism. After that he worked for 17 years as a journalist for the Bulgarian National Radio. He has acted in Bulgarian, Hungarian and Serbian films. He has been called "the legendary cowboy". He has acted in more than 110 films, The Eighth (1969), Aesop (1970), My Father the House-Painter (1974), Ivan Kondarev (1974), Captain Petko Voivode (1981), Khan Asparouh (1981), The Judge (1986), Time of Violence (1988), After the End of the World (1988), Tuvalu (1999), Zift (2008), Prima Primavera (2009), to name but a few. He received the Cyril and Methodius, 1st degree state order. In February 2010 the Ministry of Culture discerned the Golden Age Award to him for his outstanding merits to Bulgarian films. He was married to Lilyana Lazarova. He died on February 21, 2014 in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Irina Aktasheva is a Russian, but she worked in Bulgaria as an actress, a film director and a screenwriter. She graduated of the Moscow Cinema Institute in actor's classes of Sergey Gerasimov and Tamara Makarova. She married Hristo Piskov and came to Bulgaria, when at the beginning she played as an actress in Ducho Mundrov's film "The Commander of the Detachment" (1959). Then she was an assistant director in Piskov's "Poor Men Street" (1960). In "There is no Death" (1962) she became co -director to his husband. "There is no Death" (1962) were the pinnacle of the expressionistic and symbolic language - the so-called expressive realism - as the voice of modern Bulgarian films. It was picture of the worker's environment, which had until then been idealized without reservation, aroused great criticism. Aktasheva did not return to film until 1966, when, in collaboration with his husband, Hristo Piskov, she made a tumid attempt at a nonconformist tale about young workers, "Monday Morning". This film was abandoned and his release was only in 1988. After an interruption of seven years, Piskov and Aktasheva made an autobiographical evocation of revolutionary youth in "Like a Song" (1973), bathetic in its reminder of the disillusionment that followed. "Like a Song" is a story of young love against the backdrop of historical events. Aktasheva and Piskov did also "Sunstroke" (1977), "Avalanche" (1982), and "Only You, My Heart" (1987). Piskov and Aktasheva were among the initiators of the establishing of the "Club for Support of Publicity and Reconstruction in Bulgaria" in 1988, which was one of the first opposition societies against the communist regime in Bulgaria. In 2009, they received the Award of Union of Bulgarian Filmmakers for their Lifelong Achievement in the Bulgarian film art.

Naum Hristov Shopov is a popular Bulgarian theatre and film actor. His career starts on the stage of the Army Theatre, where he plays for more than three decades before moving to the National Theatre. He was presented to two "Askeer" awards. Among his unforgettable films are "The Penleve Case", directed by Gueorgui Stoyanov, "Villa Zone", directed by Eduard Sachariev, "Warm", directed by Vladimir Yanchev, "The Inspector and the Night", directed by Rangel Vulchanov. He was presented to "Icarus" Award for Overall Contribution. Naum Shopov went down in history for his roles as King Lear and Tsar Boris III. Shopov's debut in cinema was in Hristo Piskov's ''Poor Man's Street'' but it was not until Vulo Radev's ''The Peach Thief'' that his cinematic talent was fully recognized. Radev's next film, ''Tsar and General'', for the first time portrayed Bulgarian Tsar Boris III (r. 1918-1943) as sympathetic and human, trying to do what is best for his beloved homeland. Naum Shopov was cast as Tsar Boris III. In the movie a prominent Bulgarian general (Peter Slabakov) faces execution when King Boris III (Naum Shopov) decides to side with Russia in this World War II drama. Naum Shopov performed in more than thirty films since 1960. On the theatrical stage Shopov will be remembered best for his memorable appearance in King Lear, Hamlet, Socrates, Don Basilio, Crap. Naum Shopov famously said once that he likes only difficult parts. "If I don't suffer, if I don't undergo something with a character, he somehow doesn't stay with me. "

Todor Vladislavov Stoyanov was a Bulgarian cinematographer and director. Todor Stoyanov was born on June 7, 1930 in Sofia, Bulgaria. He graduated in "cinematography" in State College School of cinematography and cameras in Sofia (1952). He worked as an assistant camera, cinematographer and director in Boyana Film Studios (1952-1990),and as a Juror (1995). He died on April 30, 1999 in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Vulo Radev (1 January 1923 - 28 March 2001) was a Bulgarian film director, writer and cinematographer. Radev was born in a village Lesidren. In 1953, Radev graduated from the filming faculty of the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography in Moscow. His first film, a documentary, appeared in 1952. Radev later filmed Citizens of Dimitrovgrad (1956), On the Eve (1959, adapted from I. S. Turgenev's novel), and Tobacco (1962). In his first own film, The Peach Thief (1964, adapted from Emiliyan Stanev's novella), Vulo Radev expresses his anguish for modern man (along the lines of Godart and Antonioni) through the love story between the Serbian Officer Ivo, a prisoner of war at the concentration camp of the Bulgarians, and Lisa, the wife of the city's commander - a great love story amidst the inhuman hatred of war. The critics praise the excellent artistic knowledge; sensitivity in conception and structure of the subject matter; as well as excellent guiding of actors. As a chamber piece, the drama was made in the style of the then popular realistic psychological literature. Radev used the same style in his next film The King and The General (1966), a story of the conflict between King Boris III and General Zaimov, who tried in the beginning of the World War II to prevent both Bulgarian's alliance with Germany and its entry into the war against Soviet Union. Radev broke a number of conventions in this film too. Other films directed by him include The Longest Night (1967), Doomed Souls (1975, adapted from Dimitar Dimov's novella), and The Black Angels (1970). In 1981, he directed Adaptation, a film addressing issues of insanity. Radev received the Dimitrov Prize in 1969.

Valeri Nissim Mevorah, better known by his pen-name, Valeri Petrov, was born on April 22, 1920, in Sofia to a Jewish father and Bulgarian mother. Besides poems, novels and translations from Russian, Italian and English, Petrov authored numerous film scripts and plays - both for adults and for children. During World War II, he took part in the resistance against the pro-Nazi regime in Bulgaria and remained close to left-wing political thought through his life. In 1970, he clashed with the communist regime in Bulgaria after refusing to sign an official petition denouncing the awarding of the Nobel Prize to Soviet dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn. As a result, Petrov was not allowed to publish for years, so he turned to translating. Petrov was held in high esteem in his country and after the collapse of the totalitarian regime in 1989, he was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature by Bulgaria's Writers' Union.

Georgi Kaloyanchev "Kalata" was born in the city on Black Sea coast Burgas in 13 January 1925. He was so unique and unrepeatable actor, best known for his appearances in comedy movies but actually he began his career as a stage actor in early 50's. Then he made his cinema debut in 1951.

Ivan Andonov graduated from the National Academy of Theater and Film Art in Sofia, Bulgaria, in 1956. He is one of the most important Bulgarian cinema actors. Since 1965 he is a director and designer in animation. The films 'Difficulty', 'Esperanza' and 'Melodrama' bring him international awards and recognition. His début in features is in 1974 as a director of 'Difficult Love'. 'The Roof' won the Critic's Award in Varna, Bulgaria in 1978. 'White Magis' won Silver Prize in Cadiz, Spain. 'Dangerous Charm' won Grand Prix in Chianchiano, Italy, 1985 and Special Prize of the Jury in Chamrousse, France, in 1988. 'Dreamers' won First Prize in Varna, Bulgaria. 'Yesterday' won the Viewers, Award in Varna, Bulgaria, Grand Prix in San Remo, Italy, 1989, and Best Director Award in Moscow, 1989.

Specializing in intense psychological dramas, Bulgarian filmmaker Metodi Andonov is best remembered for making one of his country's most popular films, The Goat Horn (1972). He also directed a pair of high-grossing detective dramas based on the novels and screenplays of Bogomil Rainov, There's Nothing Finer Than Bad Weather (1971) and The Great Boredom (1973). Andonov graduated from the Sofia Academy of Dramatic Art in 1955 after studying theater direction. Before entering the film industry, he directed productions at the Dramatic Theater in Burgas and at the Satirical Theater in Sofia. Andonov made his feature directorial debut in 1968 with The White Room, which was based on a Rainov novel. In addition to his work in theater and cinema, Andonov occasionally directed for television.

Stage and film actor, best known for his roles in comedy movies. He was an important figure of the Golden age of Bulgarian Cinema (i.e. 1970s and 1980s). He began his career in the middle of the 1950s and made his feature length debut in 1958. He never got married or had children.

Tatiana Lolova was born on 10 February 1934 in Sofia. She graduated in Acting from National Academy for Theatre and Film Art, Sofia in 1955, then played a year at Ruse Drama Theatre and became one of the founding members of the State Theatre of Satire (1956-1978). In 1978-1989 joined the company of Sofia Theatre. In her early career she was more popular for her radio than her stage performances, but the advent of TV made her a real celebrity. Starring in over 50 features and TV series with, among others, An Incredible Story (1964); Birds and Greyhounds (1969); The Five of the Moby Dick (1970); Indian Summer (1973); Stars in the Hair, Tears in the Eyes (1977); Warmth (1978); Good Luck, Inspector! (1983); Dangerous Charm (1984); After the End of the World (1998); The English Neighbour (2011); House Arrest (2011).

George Ganchev, whose birth name is Gheorghi Petroushev, was born on 29 August 1939 in Plovdiiv. In the early 1960s he emigrated from Bulgaria. He graduated from the British Fencing Academy and the Hollywood Theatrical Institute. In the period 1973 - 1988 he was engaged in directing, play-writing, film and play producing in Great Britain and the United States. Ganchev claims to be the author of seven Hollywood screen plays and plays produced in Hollywood, to have written books and poetry. In 1970 and 1974 he became world champion in professional fencing. He also performed as actor, has been a basketball player. Published in Bulgaria is his autobiography "George". According to his own public statements, his hobbies are horses, music, and poetry. He became actively engaged in Bulgaria's political life after 10 November 1989. Leader of the Bulgarian Business Bloc /BBB/ since its establishment on 24 November 1990. George Ganchev ran for president in the January 1992 election and received 17 percent of the vote, which ranks him third among the candidates in the first round. Chair of the Committee on Radio, Television and the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency in the 37th National Assembly (Dec. 1994-Apr. 1995). In the presidential election of 2001, he received 3.38 percent of the vote. Ganchev speaks English. Divorced, with two daughters who live in the United States.

Vladimir Smirnov was born on 22 June 1941 in Chernogorsk, Khakasskaya AO, Krasnoyarskiy kray, RSFSR, USSR [now Khakassia, Russia]. He was an actor, known for Sbogom, priyateli! (1970), Front ohne Gnade (1984) and Pervorossiyanye (1967). He was married to Bogdana Marinova and Silvia Spassova. He died on 10 August 2000 in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Hristo Piskov was a Bulgarian film director and screenwriter. Not a single one of his generation's director, all of whom has lost part of their youth to the war, found it possible to assert their talent and strength. Hristo Piskov was a graduate of the Moscow Cinema Institute and Lev Arnshtam's assistant in co-production, A Lesson in History (1957). Piskov's Poor Men Street (1960) and There is no Death (1962) were the pinnacle of the expressionistic and symbolic language - the so-called expressive realism - as the voice of modern Bulgarian films. The last one - picture of the worker's environment, which had until then been idealized without reservation, aroused great criticism. Piskov did not return to film until 1966, when, in collaboration with his wife, Irina Aktasheva, he made a tumid attempt at a nonconformist tale about young workers, Monday Morning. The searches of more original view towards the human being and reality of socialism meet sharp reaction and "Monday morning" had not been shown for more than 20 years. The film was finished in 1966 but had its first night in 1988. After an interruption of seven years, Piskov and Aktasheva made an autobiographical evocation of revolutionary youth in "Like a Song" (1973), bathetic in its reminder of the disillusionment that followed. "Like a Song" is a story of young love against the backdrop of historical events. Piskov and Aktasheva have made together also Sunstroke (1977), Avalanche (1982), and Only You, My Heart (1987). Piskov and Aktasheva were among the initiators of the establishing of the "Club for Support of Publicity and Reconstruction in Bulgaria" in 1988, which was one of the first opposition societies against the communist regime in Bulgaria. In 2009, they received the Prize of Union of Bulgarian Filmmakers for their Lifelong Achievement in the Bulgarian film art.

The Bulgarian actor Filip Trifonov was born on May 4, 1947. From 1969 to 1973 he studied acting at the National Academy for Theatre and Film Art, Sofia, Bulgaria in the class of Apostol Karamitev. Even before he finished his education in 1971 Filip Trifonov made his cinema debut in the film "The Test" (directed by Georgi Djulgerov). He played the main role - character Lio. Then he played the title role in "The Boy goes" (directed by Lyudmil Kirkov). Philip Trifonov has participated in over then 30 films, including "The Hare Census" (directed by Eduard Sachariev), "As a Song" (directed by Irina Aktasheva and Hristo Piskov), "Wardrobe" (based on the novel of Stanislav Stratiev; directed by Georgi Djulgerov), "Tool Is Bagpipe?" (directed by Asen Shopov), "Orchestra without a Name" (directed by Lyudmil Kirkov), "Avalanche"(directed by Irina Aktasheva and Hristo Piskov),"Forget this Case" (directed by Krasimir Spasov), "Echelons" (directed by Borislav Punchev), "Life on Demand" (directed by Kosta Bikov), "Protect Small Animals" (directed by Haim Koen),"AkaDaMuS" (directed by Georgi Djulgerov),"Rio Adio" (directed by Ivan Andonov), "Ivan and Alexandra" (directed by Ivan Nichev), "Walking with the Angel" (directed by Ivan Pavlov), "Madame Bovary from Sliven" (directed by Emil Tzanev), "Rhapsody in White" (directed by Tedi Moskov), "Bay Ganyo goes through Europe" (directed by Ivan Nichev). On stage, Philip Trifonov's debut was in the role of Andzor in "The process will take place" by A. Chheidze In Blagoevgrad Theatre in 1973. He worked in Blagoevgrad Theatre, Theatre "Sofia", "Boyana studios&#x2 2;. In 1992 he created together with director Nikolai Gunderov Natural Theatre "Trifonof & Gunderov." His performances are "Opening" and "Audience" by V. Havel and "Second Hand", "West Germany - my fatherland", "She", written by him.

Nikolai Dimitrov Binev is a Bulgarian theater and cinema actor. He was born on July 5, 1934 in Sliven, Bulgaria. He graduated from the National Academy for Theatre and Film Art, Sofia, Bulgaraia in the class of Professor Krusty Mirsky. He was very famous for his numerous films and theatrical incarnations, as well as the work in the Youth Theatre, named in 2006 to his name. In the last years of his career, he participated in productions by foreign directors and starred with popular foreign actors such as Catherine Deneuve (in the film "East - West"). Nikolai Binev was invited to the troupe of a lot of Bulgarian theaters, but remains faithful to the Youth Theatre and for their entire life plays only at its scene. He participated in a number of adaptations and audio dramatizations of children's stories. In 2004, the Youth Theatre and the wife of actor - Domna Ganeva , issued CD "Nikolai Binev singing". The album includes arias from operas by Verdi and Cimarosa , songs from the musical "Yesterday" by Lyubomir Denev and children's songs "Dr. Doolittle", " To put it mildly ", " Knob sleep ", "A Tale of Boy Star", "Dwarf-Long Nose," "New Clothes of the King" by Valeri Petrov and Georgi Genkov , and other performances of the Youth Theatre. Nikolai Binev has been awarded twice with the Prize " Asker " - for leading actor in 1995 and for lifetime achievement in 2000. He is a winner of the Awards "Golden Rose", "Golden Pen", "Golden Muse", Union of the Bulgarian actors and the Union of Bulgarian Filmmakers' Awards; Best Actor Award for the movie " Night with the White Horses " - 1985. He died on December 8, 2003 in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Georgi Georgiev-Getz (Georgi Ivanov Georgiev) was born in the village Razpopovtsi, today the town of Elena, Bulgaria. He graduated in "acting" in the class of Professor Filip Filipov at National Academy for Theatre and Film Art, Sofia, Bulgaria (1949-1953). He has made a theatrical specialization in Moscow (1955-1956). He was a construction worker and contributor to newspapers. In 1953-91, he was at the National Theater in Sofia. He was a board member of Union of Bulgarian Filmmakers. He created bright images drawn from classical and contemporary Bulgarian dramaturgy. Part of his movies are "We Were Young", "Eighth", "A Peasant on a Bicycle", "Matriarchy", "Father". One of his best and well-known film roles is the role of Jordan in "A Peasant on a Bicycle." For this role he was awarded at the Varna and Moscow International Film Festivals. Nickname "Getz" was acquired by his colleague Dimitar Bochev (so called men named Georgi). After he retired, he continued to play with traveling theaters. He obtained stroke during a performance in Stara Zagora Drama Theater. He was rushed to a local hospital. His condition was deteriorating. After three days they operated him in Sofia, but it was too late and Getz died without regaining consciousness. He died on September 2, 1996 in Sofia, Bulgaria.